Written in the Stars
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: Lily just wants Andromeda to be happy and safe. Andromeda doesn't think that things are going to work out like that. Written for the April 1.0 Saturday Special on hh-sugarquill.


Author's Notes: Written for the April 1.0 Saturday Special at hh_sugarquill, with the prompt "Astronomy".

)O(

Lily lay on her back in the grass, feeling Andromeda's hands slowly run over her forehead, stroking her long, red hair back away from her face. It was a wonderfully intimate gesture, she thought - she was unused to having anyone touch her like this, so gently, so steadily and without any sort of ulterior motive. Unlike James, whose caresses always took a distinct route for her breasts after a few seconds, or Severus, who she didn't let touch her at all anymore...

The sky overhead was dark, and stars were just beginning to come out. The moon was rising on the horizon, and Lily's eyes moved slowly back and forth between it, in all its shining, silver glory, and the delicate constellations that were just beginning to come into focus above her. Only the brightest stars were shining yet, but she knew that soon enough, the heavens would be filled with all different sorts of stars, bright and dim, big and small, making pictures if she just knew where to look.

"I don't want to go home," Andromeda sighed, and Lily tipped her head back a little more. Andromeda's legs were crossed, and she, Lily, had her head on Andromeda's lap. When Andromeda drew in breath to sigh, she could feel her stomach swell a little against the crown of her head, and when she spoke, her soft, quiet voice sent gentle vibrations through Lily's head and shoulders.

"I hate it there," Andromeda continued quietly. "It's been worse since Sirius left. Bellatrix and Narcissa..."

"What about them?" Lily asked when Andromeda trailed off. "Have they been fighting?"

"No. No. I wish," Andromeda added, and Lily had to roll her eyes back to try to see Andromeda's face. She didn't want to move out of the position that she was in - she was too comfortable there, too happy, and she was afraid that the magic would be broken as soon as she moved.

"What do you mean?"

"They act closer than ever," Andromeda said, and there was a certain note of bitterness in her voice that Lily was unused to hearing from her friend. Andromeda was not a bitter person. She had been through more than she liked to talk about, Lily knew - she had heard the rumours about what the Black family did to its daughters to prepare them for marriage, rumours that made her skin crawl if she even thought about them - but she did not seem to harbour anger the way Lily would have if she was in her position. "They push me away. They say that it's important for the Black family to be stronger than ever now that Sirius is gone, but I think... I think they know that I don't think he did the wrong thing."

Lily reached up and took Andromeda's hand from where it was resting now, just beside her ear. She squeezed it gently in her hands, then pressed it to her mouth and kissed it.

"They don't know," she whispered, letting it go after a moment and tilting her head back to look at Andromeda again. "How could they?"

"I don't know."

"Look..." Lily nuzzled her head against Andromeda's thigh. "You're... you're just being paranoid - they can't know about us, can they?" she added, the thought occurring to her rather suddenly. Surely Andromeda's family hadn't found out that her nighttime strolls in the moors surrounding their manor were not alone - if they did know that, they wouldn't let her keep taking them. Andromeda would be locked up in her bedroom like Rapunzel in her tower, not free to wander around with Lily and sit and watch the moonrise with her.

"I don't think they know," Andromeda said slowly. "Not exactly. They don't know about you, exactly. But I'm sure that they suspect something. Perhaps they think I've made friends with a Muggle... or that I'm still seeing Sirius, even - that would be enough to make them want to disown me." There was the bitterness again, sharp and harsh in her voice. Lily didn't like it. She liked sweet Andromeda, Andromeda who was innocent and always smiling.

"They can't prove anything," Lily said, as if that was some sort of comfort. "They can't prove that we've been out here together, so they can't prove you've done anything wrong–"

"I know that," Andromeda interrupted. "I know. But..."

"But?"

Silence. Then Andromeda whispered, "I almost wish that they did know. I almost wish that they would throw me out."

"Andromeda!" Lily sat bolt-upright, shocked, all thoughts of how romantic and sweet their position was chased immediately from her mind. "Andromeda, how can you say that? You can't want that!"

"Maybe I can!" Andromeda said sharply, her eyes clouding. "What have I got there?"

"Your sisters!"

"I told you, they're pushing me away. They wouldn't be sad if I left."

"I'm sure they would!"

"Nonsense." Andromeda started to stand up but Lily grabbed her hands and pulled her back down.

"Don't do anything rash, Andromeda, please," she begged, and Andromeda turned away, staring up at the stars, presumably so she wouldn't have to look Lily in the eye. There was a tense silence between them, and the only sound that Lily could hear was her own heavy, strained breathing.

"You know the myth of Andromeda, don't you?" Andromeda asked at last, gesturing up at the sky. Lily squinted where she had indicated. The stars were still coming out, but she thought she recognized a pattern that had been pointed out to her before, in Astronomy classes and by her friends.

"She was chained to a rock to be eaten by a sea monster," Andromeda said, when Lily didn't answer. "As a punishment for her mother's sins."

"I know the story, yes," Lily said quietly. She didn't know where Andromeda was going to go with this train of thought, but she couldn't imagine that it would be anywhere good.

"Andromeda was rescued by Perseus," she said, and she took Lily's hand and squeezed her wrist. "Saved from the trouble her family put her into by the person she would later marry."

"Yes..."

Andromeda shook her head slowly, back and forth, closing her eyes, and Lily could see her struggling to hide emotion.

"You'd better save me, Lily," she whispered, and her voice was strained. "Because my family's going to do a lot worse than give me to a sea monster to be eaten. I..." A tear escaped from beneath her eyelid and slid slowly down her cheek. "I'm going to need someone's help, and you're the only person I know who'll love me, no matter what I do."

)O(

_Fin_


End file.
